The population of New York City in 1949 was 14,892,000 It's definitely under capacity by that metric. https://www.wnyc.org/story/subway-ridership-hits-65-year

The population of New York City in 1949 was 14,892,000 It's definitely under capacity by that metric. https://www.wnyc.org/story/subway-ridership-hits-65-year-high/ https://www.wnyc.org/story/subway-ridership-hits-65-year-hig... The only issue is that then it arguably had a much larger tax base than it does now to fund it.